Sesame Kale Salad

The grocery store I most frequent, 14 Carrot in Lexington, SC (for those of you local readers), makes a few salads and what-nots for the ready-made deli case. They’re really those wacky kind of foods like tofu, wheat grass quiche and mock chicken veganaise salad. Bleh! They never, ever look appetizing. I took a look at the ingredients of their Kale salad, cringed, and then decided I’d try to riff it. The result: literally 10 minutes from prep to mouth, made and served in one bowl, and tastes like the seaweed salad we order (and pay $4/serving for) when we go out for sushi. It’s a refreshing, cold, crunchy bowl of happiness.

Method

Place about 1/4 c of of water in a large, microwave safe bowl. Add the torn kale and seal the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Place in the microwave for 1 minute increments, peeking into the bowl during each cycle. What you’re doing is creating steam from the little puddle of water and a light, semi-permeable plastic wrap seal. It’s done when the kale has steamed and wilted, this should take around 3 minutes.

Unwrap the bowl and be careful not to steam-burn yourself. Once the kale is cool enough to handle, pour out the water and squeeze the kale until most of the water is gone.

Add the rest of ingredients and mix to combine. Serve at room temperature or cold.

I just made a half recipe tonight and ate the entire thing! At first I kept wanting to add some vinegar to brighten it up, but then I really started to enjoy the earthiness of it. Now I wouldn’t dream of changing a thing! (I still can’t believe that I just ate an entire bunch of kale in one sitting)

I made this as a side dish for the Pad Thai, and it was delicious. It was a little bit salty for me (even with reduced-sodium soy sauce), so I’ll probably cut back just a little next time. My husband thought it was perfect, though!